Church of St Luke, Heywood

Heywood is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, in the historic county of Lancashire. It had a population of 28,205 at the 2011 Census. The town lies on the south bank of the River Roch, 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Bury, 4 miles (6.4 km) southwest of Rochdale, and 8 miles (12.9 km) north of Manchester. Middleton lies to the south, whilst to the north is the Cheesden Valley, open moorland, and the Pennines. Heywood's nickname is Monkey Town. The Anglo-Saxons cleared the densely wooded area, dividing it into heys or fenced clearings. In the Middle Ages, Heywood formed a chapelry in the township, around Heywood Hall, a manor house owned by a family with that surname. Farming was the main industry of a sparsely populated rural area. The population supplemented their incomes by hand-loom woollen weaving in the domestic system.The factory system in the town can be traced to a spinning mill in the late 18th century. Following the introduction of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution, Heywood developed into a mill town and coal mining district. A period of "extraordinary growth of the cotton-trade" in the mid 19th century was so quick and profound that there was "an influx of strangers causing a very dense population". The town became a municipal borough in 1881. Imports of foreign cotton goods in the mid-20th century precipitated the decline of Heywood's textile and mining industries, resulting in a more diverse industrial base. The town was well respected for the quality of its cotton goods. The Queen mother once visited Heywood in the very early 1900s to admire the cotton in its factories. Cotton from Heywood cotton mills was used to create the dress that she wore for her 50th birthday celebration speech.Heywood is close to junction 19 of the M62 motorway, which provides transport links for the large distribution parks in the south of the town. The 1860s-built 188-foot (57 m) tall Parish Church of St Luke the Evangelist dominates the town centre and skyline. Heywood was the birthplace of Peter Heywood, the magistrate who aided the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot, whose family seat was Heywood Hall. Heywood has a station on the East Lancashire heritage railway.

The Municipal Borough of Heywood was, from 1881 to 1974, a local government district in the administrative county of Lancashire, England, with borough status and coterminate with the town of Heywood.

Holy Family RC & CE College (formerly St Joseph's RC High School) is a coeducational secondary school located in Heywood in the English county of Greater Manchester.It is a voluntary aided school administered by Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford and the Church of England Diocese of Manchester. It was previously known as St Joseph's RC High School serving the Catholic population of the local area, however it became a joint-faith Catholic/Church of England school in 2007 and was renamed Holy Family RC & CE College.Holy Family RC & CE College offers GCSEs and BTECs as programmes of study for pupils.

Queen's Park is a public park in Heywood, in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England.

Newhouse Academy is a coeducational secondary school located in Heywood, Greater Manchester, England.

Millers Brook is a watercourse in Greater Manchester and tributary of the River Roch. It originates in Heywood and flows through Queens Park to join the River Roch.

Heywood railway station serves the town of Heywood in Greater Manchester, England. The original station was opened in 1841 (by the Manchester and Leeds Railway). It was resited in 1848 when the line was extended to Bury. It closed on 5 October 1970. It re-opened on 6 September 2003 as an extension of the East Lancashire Railway from Bury Bolton Street. The boundary between the ELR and the national rail network is located a short distance east of the station, at Hopwood. £300 million had been pledged to link Heywood back to the National Rail Network in 2009, which would have seen services direct to Manchester via Castleton, but this scheme was subsequently shelved due to lack of funding. The ELR still has ambitions to run trains through to Castleton though to allow direct interchange with National Rail services there. This would form part of a larger scheme to regenerate the area and create additional tourist attractions such as a proposed Heywood Culture Park. The original station was situated immediately opposite the terminal wharf of the Heywood Branch Canal. The East Lancashire Railway station is situated slightly further to the east, nearer to the former Heywood railway wagon works.

Naden Brook is a watercourse in northwest England. It rises in the hills above Norden, near the boundary of Lancashire and Greater Manchester. From here it flows south to Heywood, where it merges with the River Roch.

Broadfield railway station served the district of Broadfield in Heywood in Greater Manchester, England from 1869 until October 1970, when the station was closed and passenger services between Bolton & Rochdale were withdrawn by British Rail. The line through the station has since been reopened by the heritage East Lancashire Railway, although the station itself remains disused.

Wrigley Brook is a culverted watercourse in Greater Manchester which flows through Heywood and is a tributary of the River Roch. Originating in the Hareshill area to the South of Heywood, it flows northwards and joins the River Roch at Bottom O' th' Brow.

Crimble Mill is a Grade II* listed former textile mill on Crimble Lane, Heywood, in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. Historically part of Lancashire, it was built in the early 19th century for cotton spinning and later adapted for wool production. Vacant since 2002, the mill is on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register following years of deterioration, including a partial roof collapse in 2019. A major redevelopment approved in 2023 aims to restore the building for residential and commercial use.

Tack Lee Brook is a watercourse in Greater Manchester and a tributary of the River Roch. Birtle Brook is one of its tributaries.